


There's No Place Like Home

by Langus



Category: Emerald City (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 09:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9432323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Langus/pseuds/Langus
Summary: Oz isn't safe and with the Wizard out for her life, Dorothy's only chance is to return home using the ruby slippers. But will she find the strength to use them knowing it'll mean leaving Lucas behind?An angsty head canon my muse dreamt up the other day featuring Dorothy & Lucas.





	

 “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“Those ruby slippers will take you to the place your heart most desires to be,” Glinda replied, sounding thoroughly inconvenienced at having to explain how the magic worked.

Dorothy nodded, and slid her feet into the shoes. They fit perfectly and she had to wonder if that wasn’t magic, too. Exhaling a shaky breath, she looked up at Lucas who was braving a smile.

“I guess this is where we say good-bye,” he said and though he straightened his back he found it difficult to look her in the eye.

“Yeah,” she replied even less steadily. “I guess it is.”

Lucas said nothing, but he didn’t have to say a word for her to know exactly how he felt. It was all there in his eyes, just like always since the day they’d met. Every emotion, every thought, was there plain for her to see. Saying goodbye to her wasn’t easy for him. But then, it wasn’t easy for her either.

They reached for each other at the same time, hands savouring their last touch, lips their last taste.

“We are running out of time,” Glinda interrupted when it appeared they had no intention of separating from one another any time soon. They pulled apart and Dorothy tried to muster the courage to feel excited about returning home. At the moment it felt like she’d been kicked in the gut by a very angry horse.

“Promise you won’t forget me,” Lucas instructed.

Dorothy nodded and gave him a watery smile, “Back at ya.”

Wiping two stray tears from her cheeks, she stepped back towards the waiting Glinda.

“What do I do now?”

“Think of where your heart most wants to be. When you’ve pictured that place in your mind, close your eyes and click your heels together three times.”

She nodded and sent one last glance over her shoulder at Lucas before closing her eyes. She pictured her family’s farm in Kansas. Her bed. Her car. The barn. The smell of fresh hay in the summer. The sign announcing the city limits. “Welcome to Lucas, Kansas!” Where the tall grasses in the summer were the colour of Lucas’ eyes. Where there were no wizards or guards or tribes wanting to kill her. Where there was no Lucas to protect her. Home, she thought. I want to go home. Home. Please take me home.

She opened her eyes slowly, a bit unsure, and quickly frowned.

“Why am I still here? Didn’t it work?”

Glinda lifted an amused brow, “The spell worked exactly as it was designed to. The place your heart most wants to be is here.”

“Dorothy…” Lucas’ voice was rough with emotion as he stepped forward and grabbed hold of her arm. “Oz isn’t safe for you. It’ll never be safe for you. This is your only chance to go home, to get back to your own world. Take it!”

She froze, unable to explain what it was she most wanted. She managed a breathless, “Come with me,” followed by a timid smile. “Come home with me.”

Lucas wasted no time pulling her into his arms. He locked eyes with the witch of the north over the top of her head. Her face was expressionless as ever, but she subtly shook her head in answer to his unspoken question. He couldn’t go back with her to her world. His jaw clenched tight and he held her closer as he pressed a soft kiss against the top of her head.

“Come on,” he ordered and took her by the hand to the spot where she needed to cast her spell. “We can’t afford to waste any more time.”

“Then, you’ll come with me?” she asked, her face bright and hopeful. He nodded and held her hand just a little tighter.

A smile split Dorothy’s face from ear to ear, “Okay. Let’s do this.”

She closed her eyes to concentrate on home while Lucas used the opportunity to study every inch of her face and commit it to memory. He noted the way her hair fell loose about her shoulders, strands tickling at her cheeks and brow. And the freckles on her cheeks, the ones he thought looked like a constellation. He took all his dreams of a life together with her and packaged them up into a neat box to be stored in the recesses of his mind.

She whispered softly, “There’s no place like home,” and he wanted to tell her to stop. He interlaced his fingers with hers and clenched his mouth shut tight to stop himself from begging her to stay. Without ever trying, she’d become his home in a way he’d never known. She fit into his life in seamless way that made him wonder if she hadn’t been designed for him all along.

Maybe this was the journey, maybe this was the path, but with the threat of the Wizard constantly hanging over them they’d never have the opportunity to be happy. They’d always be running, always looking over their shoulders expecting the worst. He couldn’t do that to her. She deserved better; a real family with a real home, somewhere safe and warm and filled with love. What little he could offer was already hers, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough.

At the third “There’s no place like home” Dorothy vanished. There was a popping sensation in his ears and then his hand was empty. He closed it slowly into a fist, preserving the last lingering vestiges of her touch.

“You did the right thing,” Glinda said with a sage look.

He stared in mute shock at the spot where Dorothy had been and released a shaky exhale. He looked up somewhat belatedly and answered, “I know.”

Not having any desire to linger, he turned his back to the witch of the north and made his way out of the hall on unsteady legs.

oOo

She opened her eyes slowly and then quickly squeezed them shut against the light. Trying again, she opened them one at a time and shielded her eyes against the sudden brightness with her hand.

Her arm felt heavy, like it was weighted down by some invisible force. She turned her head to look at it and saw that it looked the same as she remembered. Right down to the birthmark on her hand. She tried to sit up, but her whole body felt heavy like she was encased in a pile of hot sand.

She lifted her head instead and looked around the room, taking in its contents. The realization of where she was came slowly into focus, like a camera lense being turned until the picture became vivid and sharp. A hospital. She was in a hospital. But where? There was no one she could ask, no one who could tell her. The room was empty but for her bed, the IV stand, an empty chair, and the heart monitor beeping next to her.

‘I have to get out of here’ was the first thought that crossed her mind and it propelled her upwards into a sitting position. Her head swam and the room spun along with it. Too fast. Much too fast. She waited until the spinning had stopped before trying to move again. She had to find Lucas. She had to figure out where she was and how far she was from Kansas. But first, she had to get out of bed.

Sliding to the edge of the mattress, she hung her feet over the side and stared down at the tile floor. It looked cold and further away than she remembered. Her toes curled in expectation of the frigid tile and she slowly slid off the edge of the bed. With a hand atop the mattress for balance, she slowly rose up until she was standing and tried to take a step towards the washroom. Her legs instantly buckled and collapsed beneath her, sending her crashing to the floor. Her knees hit with bruising force and she cried out as her elbow smashed into the tile. ‘So much for being graceful,’ she thought.

A familiar gruff voice called out her name and then a pair of hands she knew all too well were helping her to her feet. She looked up and her face broke into a wide grin.

“Lucas,” she breathed and wrapped her arms around him. “I was so worried I’d never see you again.”

Lucas eased her onto the bed and then pulled her arms from around him so he could tuck her in beneath the blankets. “There we go, everything’s going to be all right. You’ve been in a coma for some time, so your muscles aren’t as strong as they once were.”

Dorothy’s face screwed up in confusion, “A coma?”

Lucas gave a patient, understanding smile, “Memory loss happens sometimes with these things, but it’s usually temporary.”

Dorothy shook her head and held up an unsteady hand, “Wait. How long was I in a coma?”

Lucas’ brows rose and he reached for the chart at the end of her bed. He flipped through the first few pages and gave a succinct nod. “Three months. Hard to believe it’s been that long, but it’s good to see you awake again. It was touch and go for a while there.”

Dorothy breathed a shaky exhale as tears blurred her vision, “Lucas, if this is a joke…”

He shifted closer on the bed and took up her hand, holding it gently between his, “I’m sorry, I know this is probably very upsetting. But don’t worry, everything is going to be all right.”

Dorothy snatched her hand from his and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Stop saying that. Stop saying everything’s going to be all right. It’s not all right! The last time I saw you, we were standing in the middle of Glinda’s fucking castle using the ruby slippers to get home, and now I’m in a hospital and you’re telling me I’ve been in a coma for what…three months?! What are you, some kind of nurse now? What the hell is going on, Lucas? Help me figure it out because I’m not understanding any of it.”

Lucas gently patted her hand and then slowly rose to his feet. His brow furrowed as he studied her tear streaked face and took a step towards the door, “Maybe I should get the doctor…”

“No!” she practically shouted. “No. I just…I want an explanation that makes sense.”

Lucas dragged the chair next to her bed and sat down facing her. “All I can tell you is what I know.”

Dorothy sniffled and used the tissue he handed her to wipe the last of the tears from her eyes. It was a relief to see him there, even if he wasn’t acting like himself. There was so much about him that was reassuringly familiar – his eyes, the scar that cut across his cheek, the faint ginger hue of his stubble.

“What do you know?” she asked, sounding a great deal calmer than before.

Lucas smiled in that open, inviting way that always made her heart melt just a little. She smiled back and he reached for her hand.

“Well to start with, my name isn’t Lucas. Not exactly, anyway. It’s Nolan. Nolan Lucas.”

“Nolan…” she repeated and gripped his hand tighter. “That soldier from the Wizard’s Guard…he called you Nolan! Does this mean you have your memories back?”

He laughed lightly and gave her a strange look, “I hadn’t realized I’d lost them.”

Dorothy’s brow furrowed in confusion, “Yes…yes of course. I’m sorry. Where are we exactly?”

“Oz, Kansas,” he replied.

“There isn’t an Oz in Kansas.”

His brow quirked upwards, “You sure about that?”

“No…” she admitted and lowered her eyes to her lap. “I’m not sure about anything right now. I’m sorry, I’m not normally this clueless.”

“Well, you don’t look clueless to me,” he assured her. “We’ll have you right as rain in no time.”

“Thanks.”

She watched him get up to return to his duties and couldn’t help but call out to him, “Lucas-I mean, Nolan!”

He turned back with a smile.

“My parents…do they know I’m here?”

“They come every day. I’ll call them right now to let them know you’re awake.”

Dorothy nodded and her heart raced at the thought of seeing her parents again. It felt like it’d been years since they’d last been together in the same space.

“The doctor will be by shortly,” he added. “Dr. Morgan’s a bit of an odd bird but he’s an amazing surgeon. They call him ‘the wizard’.”

Dorothy’s short-lived smile fell from her face and she choked out a “What?”

Nolan already had his back turned and was heading out the door.

“You sit tight,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll be back soon!”

He disappeared into the hall and she was left alone with her panic. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t real. All of it had to be some sort of elaborate illusion.  Or maybe it was a dream. Maybe she hit her head on the journey back and now was imagining herself in some sort of parallel world.

The idea that Oz had been nothing more than a figment of her imagination was one notion she refused to accept. The people had been too real and the pain too vivid for it to have been imagined. And why would she have dreamt up Oz of all things? Why invent an imaginary world where everyone and everything’s out to kill her?

And then she remembered a conversation standing at the kitchen sink with her mother. A conversation about a wish. She’d wished to be something more than what she was. Just _more_. And Oz had given her exactly that, hadn’t it? She’d arrived there a powerful accidental witch and promptly fallen in love with a man with no past only to go on and save a world with no future. It was more purpose than she ever could have hoped for.

And now it was gone. Sitting in this bed she was plain old Dorothy Gale once again. Adopted farm girl from Lucas, Kansas. And it crushed her.

A knock at the door announced the arrival of her parents. They flew into the room and wrapped their arms around her, crying tears of joy. She hugged them back, thankful to see them again. This reunion with them represented the culmination of her entire mission in Oz. Everything she’d done there had been about getting back to them. And now that they were with her again, she found herself wishing more than anything that she was back in that place, as dangerous and dark as it was.

At least there she was _someone_.

At least there she was powerful.

But most of all, perhaps worst of all, at least there she had him.


End file.
